About

Synthetic Biology

based on standard parts

The International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) Foundation is an independent, non-profit organization dedicated to education and competition, the advancement of synthetic biology, and the development of an open community and collaboration.

iGEM runs three main programs: the iGEM Competition - an international competition for students interested in the field of synthetic biology; the Labs Program - a program for academic labs to use the same resources as the competition teams; and the Registry of Standard Biological Parts - a growing collection of genetic parts use for building biological devices and systems.

Values

The iGEM competition also promotes strong values in the teams. Students are expected to be honest with their research, cooperate with one another, practice good sportsmanship, be respectful of their peers, and celebrate everyone's efforts. The team that best embodies these values as determined by the judges will receive the Chairman's Award at the Giant Jamboree and the respect of the entire iGEM community.

Facets

iGEM is a multifaceted program in which students can develop new skills. The different components of the competition not only make it a strong and thorough program but also allow students to be involved in outreach and education, development of new technologies, an international community, responsible and safe research practices, and project design.

Previous Years

iGEM began in January 2003 as an independent study course at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where students developed biological devices to make cells blink. This course became a summer competition with 5 teams in 2004 and continued to grow to 13 teams in 2005; it has now expanded to 280 teams in 2015, reaching over more than 30 countries.

The competition was originally aimed at college students but it has grown to include overgraduate and high school students. The competition's projects also grew in complexity. Tracks where introduced to the competition to give teams focus areas for their projects and Regional Jamborees and World Championships where held in the past. Past projects have ranged from a rainbow of pigmented bacteria, to banana and wintergreen scented bacteria, to the development of an arsenic biosensor to screen drinking water.

Growth of teams from 2004 to 2014

iGEM Teams

iGEM became an international event early on. The map below shows all the iGEM teams from 2004 to 2014.

You can also visit 2016.igem.org to find out more about this year's teams.

Testimonials

"Forget the hoverboard. Real sign we’re living in the future is 21yr old undergrads sequencing whole genomes for #iGEM."
-Tom Ellis, Senior Lecturer in Synthetic Biology, Imperial College London

"@jrkelly recommends that to predict what #biotech will look like in the next 5 years, looking at #iGEM2014 posters will give lots of clues."
- Philip Boeing

"Really enjoyed the #iGEM poster sessions. Felt like the world’s smartest, most talented and enthusiastic people were all in one room tonight."
-Nicola Parton, Head of Synthetic Biology, The Sainsbury Laboratory

"iGEM is to some extent a reflection of the trends in Synthetic biology (2 years ago, a lot of TALENs, last year a lot of CRISPR, this year a lot about WHO’s call for novel antibiotics solutions…"
-Michel Cannieux, Director of Product Commercialization, Synthetic Biology, IDT